[NEohioPAL] "Cry Havoc!" at Ohio Shakespeare Festival

[Nancy Cates]

Using Shakespeare to Ease the Trauma of War

Cry Havoc!

written and performed by Stephan Wolfert

at Ohio Shakespeare Festival

Greystone Hall, 103 S. High St., Akron

November 15 and 16, 8:00 pm

1-888-718-4253 (option 1) or visit ohioshakespearefestival.com

Tickets $10 - $50

 

After two years of paralysis from a high school sports injury, after six
years in the United States Army, after a full-blown transition into a
classic case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Stephan Wolfert hopped off
an Amtrak train deep in the mountains of Montana. Far from home. Close to
the middle of nowhere. And without the first damn clue of what to do for the
rest of his life.

Until, as Fate would literally have it, he stepped into a local theater and
saw a production of William Shakespeare's Richard III.

 

Twenty years later, using Shakespeare's timeless words, and a few of his
own, actor/veteran Stephan Wolfert in Cry Havoc! leads us on an interactive
journey to meet Shakespeare's veterans.

 

He also brings us face to face with one of the most vexing military - and
civilian - problems of our time.  Men and women are tested and trained
before entering the military. While serving in the military, they continue
to be tested and trained to ensure "combat readiness". Or, as Wolfert
suggests, to harness their "berserker energy". Berserkers were Norse
warriors of old who fought with a trance-like fury, and the value of that
spirit of rage is as important to the military of today as it ever was.

 

But there's no "off switch". After years of testing and training to maintain
combat readiness, there is no testing and training to leave military service
and rejoin the civilian world. No testing to ensure "NON-Combat readiness".
No training to eliminate our warrior's "berserker energy". Leaving the
"berserker" to pose the unanswered question: "Now what?"

 

Shakespeare had something to say about that. He wrote about the
relationships between veterans, politicians and civilians. He wrote about
how these relationships can either prevent or create havoc.

 

Cry Havoc! is a one-person play that unites veterans with civilians. It
shows us that the military men and women of Shakespeare's time wrestled with
the same hopes and worries that occupy our modern lives. It explores the
difficulties that our veterans and their families face.

And maybe, just maybe, it will help them eliminate the berserker and truly
come home. 

 

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